9781631052347OnCallKenyan

by M. O. Kenyan

  “You’re…” Catalella choked. “You’re mean.”

  “If I were mean, I wouldn’t get you a glass full of iced chips, would I?” Katherine helped Catalella into a sitting position and slowly gave her ice chips to suck on. Katherine knew Catalella’s throat would feel raw, her chest too. But then again, she was alive and the pain would fade.

  “He left me.”

  “Who, Michael?”

  “Yes. Apparently I’m not a ‘real woman’.” Catalella sobbed. “I can’t have children, Katherine!”

  Katherine understood the pain of losing a child. But whereas she could still have babies, Catalella couldn’t. The odds had been against her. Her last round of chemo and radiation therapy had removed any chances.

  Katherine understood wallowing in the loss of a child, but Michael wasn’t worth the dirt he walked on. But then again, he was Catalella’s first love. She couldn’t blame the young girl for crying. Hell, she still balled up in a fetal position crying for AJ. But she had never thought of killing herself.

  “I get that you loved him, but that was a shitty thing to do to your family. I’m going to let them in now. I wish your brother was here to throttle you, Catalella,” Katherine chastised. It hurt, seeing Catelella defeated. She wouldn’t want to see any of her brothers in this hopeless state. “But I guess it’s better he’s not here to see it. He’d be disappointed in you, you know.”

  “He’ll get his chance when he arrives tomorrow.”

  “Wh…what?” she stammered.

  Katherine tried not to notice the confused look Catalella gave her. Was she supposed to be in the loop about AJ’s comings and goings? She had thought his family would know they’d broken up.

  “He didn’t tell you he was arriving tomorrow? He’s going to be my donor.”

  “Of…of course.” Katherine stood frozen, confused how to react to AJ’s homecoming, Part of her was happy, excited even. She had missed the sound of his voice, the way he strongly carried his body when he walked into a room. But she was angry that he hadn’t done a better job of insisting on seeing her. The memory of her mother’s interfering made her blood boil. “I’ll just let your family in.”

  “Are you going to come back?”

  Katherine smiled. “Sure, in a while. I’ll just let you have some time with your family.”

  “Thank you for not letting me die.”

  After Katherine had briefed the Ross’s she had to find a place to sit down. Her body still seemed to be in shock. The millions of emotions rushing through her made her feel weak and light headed. But she couldn’t ignore the excited thump of her heart. The love of her life was coming back, and this time she wasn’t going to let him go without a fight.

  Catalella hadn’t told Katherine where AJ intended to stay. But when she got home she spent most of the night cleaning. It didn’t bother her when her housekeeping went into the early morning. She was determined not to let AJ to walk into a dirty apartment. Katherine felt her heart tug when she replaced his sheets. It wasn’t totally hygienic but she hadn’t been able to bring herself to wash away AJ’s scent. But now AJ was coming home, she didn’t need to hold onto them anymore. Once she was done, she stepped back and admired her work, then fell into a dreamless sleep.

  * * * *

  AJ knew something was up by Reno’s downcast face. His shoulders drooped as if they had taken on the weight of the world. He didn’t ask what was going on, he couldn’t bring himself to. Instead they drove in a blanket of silence all the way to the hospital. AJ didn’t know how he would feel returning home.

  When he had landed at the airport a sense of nostalgia had taken over him. He had missed his family, his mother’s cooking, his sister’s nagging, his late nights with Reno and his father’s wisdom. And even if it was hard for him to admit, he had missed Katherine—the way her blue-gray eyes changed from sweet to dark with desire each time she looked at him, her quirky faults, the melodic sound of her voice and the way her tiny body felt under him as she writhed in pleasure. That last memory had his erection fighting against the zipper of his pants.

  When AJ caught sight of the hospital he sobered up. Now that he was close to his domain, to the scientific medical words which made more sense than the layman’s terms, he could take whatever Reno had to tell him. Obviously Catalella wasn’t dead—there wouldn’t have been a reason for Reno to take him to the hospital.

  “What’s going on?” he asked cautiously.

  Reno cleared his throat and shot him a quick glance. “Catalella tried to kill herself.”

  AJ felt his heart freeze in his chest. A sliver of cold ran down his spine. He couldn’t make up the right combination of letters or words that would express how he felt at that moment. But once the shock subsided, anger sizzled beneath his skin, the chill forgotten. An angry hiss left his lips. “What?”

  Reno shook his head as if he couldn’t believe it either. “Your mother went to see Catalella. She found her in the bath and she wasn’t moving. Lisette and I were close by so when Rosalinda called we rushed there. Rosalinda thought she had passed out because of the aggressive chemotherapy. But Lisette caught sight of the pill bottle. I couldn’t get her to open her eyes so I lifted her out of the bath and rushed her to the hospital. We were just lucky that Katherine was around. Her and some doctor guy helped her. She could have died.”

  She could have died. Those words turned his body into a glacier. But Katherine had been there to help his little sister.

  “Why did she do it?” AJ asked. “Was she tired of all the treatments? I know she’s going through this a second time, and this round of treatment is more aggressive than the last. But that doesn’t mean she should give up. I flew all the way here to give her my bone marrow—”

  “Michael asked for a divorce.”

  AJ drove his fist into the dashboard of Reno’s truck.

  “Hey, watch it!” Reno protested. “I would also like to drive my fist into the S.O.B’s face but I’ve been at the hospital all night. Your father had gone on a business trip, but should be on his way back. Once Senior is here, we can launch a vigilante hunt for the bastard.”

  “I can’t wait,” AJ ground out.

  AJ ran into the hospital, ignoring the myriad of greetings sent in his direction. Right now the only thing he wanted to see was his sister. He walked into the room and froze at the door.

  There she was. Even with four other people in the room all he could see was Katherine. Her long blonde hair was held in a pony tail, with wisps curling around her face. Her blue scrubs fitted loosely, with a white lab coat over them. His eyes raked her from head to toe then held her gaze with an intense look. The words jammed in his throat. What exactly was he to say?

  “AJ.” Catalella’s weak voice brought him out of his frozen state. He looked at her and immediately had to try and hide his frown at how weak she looked. She had lost a lot of weight and the bed seemed to be swallowing her. He needed to see her chart. And as if Katherine was tapped into his brain she walked toward him and put the chart in his hands.

  AJ was thankful for the ability to switch into doctor mode when he was reading a chart. Katherine’s proximity and the sound of her voice would otherwise have driven him into lust-filled frenzy. He listened as she gave him Catalella’s history. He was surprised at how well informed she was about his sister’s cancer and the progress of her treatment. Katherine told him things even his parents wouldn’t know, things that doctor’s didn’t say out loud to their patients.

  “What happened last night?” he asked as he flipped to the last page of the chart.

  “Catalella was brought in unconscious. Lisette informed me of the overdose. We had to be careful since she had had her treatments earlier in the week. We pumped her stomach and put her on fluids.”

  “We?”

  AJ sensed Katherine’s hesitation. “Lyle helped.”

  “Thank you. Aah…do you mind giving my family and me a minute?” He caught the hurt in her eyes before she looked away.

&nb
sp; “Call me if you need me,” Katherine said before she left.

  In a minute AJ was in his family’s arms. He stepped back and looked toward Catalella. He saw the guilt on her face. He wanted to give her grief, lecture her or even beat some sense into her. But he thought the guilt for her actions would be enough punishment for her.

  “What were you thinking?”

  “I wasn’t,” she whispered. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay. Now we just have to focus on getting you better.”

  * * * *

  Katherine still couldn’t get the sound of her heart thumping in her ear to stop. A zing of awareness zipped through her body when AJ walked into the room. Even behind the bushy beard and the long hair, she could still see her AJ. It was her AJ in a mountain cave man version. The embers of love simmering low in her body flared to life at the sound of his voice. She had hoped he hadn’t seen the panic in her eyes. The worst part was when she had to bring up Lyle. No doubt that was the reason he chased her out of the room. But she couldn’t forget the look of desire as his eyes swept from her head to her toe, the burning trail touched her like warm flesh. Maybe there was hope after all.

  “I heard he’s back.” Lyle didn’t say AJ’s name. To him AJ was like a myth such as little children were told about to scare them into obedience. Saying his name out loud would be like calling up the myth.

  “Yes, AJ is back.” Katherine craned her neck to look over his shoulder. She was standing at the nurse’s station a few meters away from Catalella’s room. She had hoped to catch AJ when he left, and maybe force him into talking to her. But now Lyle was here, she was watching and hoping AJ wouldn’t catch them together.

  “Are the two of you getting back together?”

  “I don’t know.” She shivered with fright when she realized that was the truth. She didn’t know if AJ had used those months away to forget about her. What if he had another woman? Katherine saw AJ walk out of Catalella’s room and tried to escape, but he had already seen her. Any attempt to hide or run away would be admitting guilt to something she wasn’t really doing. But when Lyle reached to take her hand she drew back and shot him a menacing look. What the hell was he trying to do?

  “Lyle.” AJ’s voice boomed in greeting. “I just want to thank you for what you did for my sister.”

  “You should thank Katherine here, she wouldn’t give up even when the girl flat-lined,” Lyle said.

  Katherine felt the warmth creep into her cheeks, but she didn’t dare move away from AJ’s perusal. “It was Catalella, I couldn’t give up.”

  “Thank you. She asked for you.” When AJ smiled at her for the first time since he arrived, Katherine thought she would crumble to the ground. Relief was what she felt—maybe they did have a chance. “My family and I are going home for a while. I need to get some sleep before I meet up with her oncologist.”

  “I’ll tell Doctor Chaplain to expect you.”

  “Thanks again, kitty kat.” AJ winked at her before turning away and leaving with his family.

  “The nerve of that guy.” Lyle hissed, once AJ was out of hearing range. “He thinks he can just come back after ignoring you for almost two years, wink at you and you’ll fall into his arms.”

  “If he had held out his arms I would have climbed into them,” Katherine spat back. “AJ is the love of my life. I don’t care how long it takes me to get him to realize that. I’ll wait.”

  “Like I have been waiting?”

  “I didn’t ask you to.” Katherine did feel bad for Lyle wasting his time and intentions on her. She didn’t encourage him but after a few months of being chased around the hospital she figured he wouldn’t give up.

  His persistence had been one of the reasons she’d decided to branch into a different department of medicine for her fellowship. Soon she would take her board exams and get him out of her hair. “I need to go see Catalella.”

  “I thought you were going to follow your master home.”

  Katherine resented the tone in his voice. But his words did make her think. Which home would AJ go to?

  Chapter Nineteen

  Katherine’s hand shook as she slotted her key in the lock. She felt so nervous. The whole day she had been pining about AJ having gone to his parents’ home, and now she was nervous about opening her front door. She hadn’t seen him again that day, but Catalella had told her he had been in later in the afternoon. Maybe he was trying to avoid her. “Get a grip, Katherine,” she chastised herself as she walked through the front door.

  “I didn’t know you talked to yourself.”

  Katherine froze when she saw AJ in their little living room, his shirt off as he watched the game. It was like he had never left. Inhaling deeply she caught the scent of him. Finally her home felt and smelled right again. Forcing herself to stay in control of herself, she shut the door behind her and tried to appear unaffected. But she was sure AJ could hear the strong thudding of her heart from where he sat. His hard, muscled frame made her insides shudder and relax at the same time as warmth pooled in her stomach.

  “Katherine?”

  “Mmh?” She looked away from his chest and into his eyes. The amused grin AJ gave her told her that she had been caught staring. She turned away, not willing to let AJ see her turn crimson.

  “There is a pizza in the kitchen. I’m going to bed.”

  “Goodnight.” What else was she to say? ‘Stay so we can talk about the last few months’, or ‘Hold me because I can’t stand another minute without your arms around me?’ Goodnight was the only thing she could think of saying at the moment. Katherine ate her food in the silence which she had become accustomed to, in the loneliness that seemed to track and follow her into every aspect of her life. She stepped into the shower and under the hot pellets of water, even the drumming sounds of water hitting her skin couldn’t fill the silence. How long was she going to let solitude haunt her?

  Not a second longer.

  Katherine pulled on one of AJ’s clean T-shirts, and quickly dried her hair. She didn’t take a moment to think about what she was going to do next. She marched toward AJ’s bedroom and opened the door. Even in the semi-darkness she could see the inviting warmth in the depth of his brown eyes. His gaze never left hers as she walked toward him, climbed on the bed and straddled him. Whatever would happen next would be his call. Katherine was content with feeling his powerful body between her legs and the muscles in his chest beneath her touch.

  “You shaved your hair and your beard. I love the goatee by the way.”

  AJ only responded with a grunt. He raised himself into a sitting position without toppling Katherine. He rested his back on the head board and studied Katherine. She wasn’t going to pull away. She wasn’t going to let any little doubt in her mind ruin this moment for her. If AJ was only comfortable with holding her, she would accept that. She was desperate for his touch.

  She felt his hands rest on her bare thighs, and Katherine forced herself to control the violent shudder of pleasure he brought her. She wanted to kiss him, to feel the intensity their sparring lips had once given them. Her body froze, terrified of moving lest he interpreted her shivering as a discouragement. If she could, she would break out in song and dance and cheer him to the finish line. AJ’s strong hands crept under the T-shirt and smoothed over her back. She wanted to beg but didn’t want to put him off by being desperate.

  Katherine wiggled her ass when she felt his desire grow. Did she really need the foreplay? She had the mind to yank his flannel pants down and sit on his erection just to please her demanding desire. But she wanted to give AJ time to acquaint himself with her body once again.

  Luckily for her, his patience seemed to snap when she wiggled her ass once more. In a second he had pulled the shirt off and had her on her back. His lips came crushing down on hers and they locked in an erotic sparring dance.

  “I missed you so much.” His lips whispered over the surface of hers. He left a trail of kisses on her neck, cheek and brought his lips to her ear
. His breath was warm as he whispered, “My kitty kat.” His lips alighted near the pulse point in her throat, gently brushing the exposed skin. The gentle brush of his lips were enthralling, lighting the lamps of desire in every inch of her body. She felt his lips part then the trace of his tongue as he tasted her.

  “Forgive me.” AJ breathed out as he pulled back. Katherine almost let out a yell of protest. AJ climbed off the bed and chucked his pants before climbing on again. He positioned himself between her legs, with his knees forcing them even wider. “I wanted to take my time with you, but I can’t. It’s been too long. Right now it’s going to be hard and fast, but the second time it will be slow.”

  Katherine could feel herself drip, as AJ’s hardness teased her entrance. She could see by the way his muscles bunched up in his shoulders and the way he tried to control his breathing he was trying to restrain his desire for her. But Katherine didn’t want a tamed version of him. She knew it would probably hurt—AJ had been away for a long time. But she would gladly take the pain with the desire. Catching him off guard, Katherine planted her hands on his firm ass and lifted her hips. With all the force she could master she drove him inside her. Her climax took her by surprise.

  She heard AJ groan his approval, then chuckle and curse. “I can’t…”

  His voice trailed off but Katherine understood what he meant. He couldn’t restrain himself anymore. AJ hooked her knee on his elbow and pushed her leg forward as he hammered into her with abandon. Katherine threw her head back as a wave of her second orgasm built within her belly. When it crashed into her, she couldn’t help the satisfied shriek that escaped her lips.

  Katherine stretched out, her sore muscles and joints a reminder of the love she and AJ had been making all night. She turned toward AJ and was met by a solid wall of—air. Disappointment rushed through her. AJ was supposed to be there cuddling her as she woke up, but he wasn’t. Katherine jumped off the bed and caught her reflection in the floor length mirror. A cheeky giggle escaped her lips as she studied the hand prints AJ had left on her. Her thighs felt sore, her vagina felt sore, no wonder he kept apologizing. She wore the bruises, proud of her battle scar.